First Time Buyers Need More Than A Mortgage

When it comes to buying your first home, the most obvious thing you need from a financial provider is a mortgage. However, a mortgage should be just one aspect of the support you get when it comes to starting out on the housing ladder.

Besides providing you with a competitive interest rate, there’s plenty more a mortgage lender can do to help you make the right decisions. One of the reasons why Nationwide has been named MoneySuperMarket’s Best First Time Buyer Awards Mortgage Provider 2015 is the extra help the society provides. Here are five ways that extra support can make a difference to you:

You could apply for a 95% Save to Buy* mortgage with Nationwide if you’ve held one of these accounts for:

Less than twelve months and not missed more than three monthly deposits of at least £50 per month, or;

Twelve months or more and deposited at least £50 per month for no less than nine out of the previous twelve months.

This could give you more choice and flexibility when it comes to choosing your first home and how you pay for it. Plus, when you complete a Save to Buy mortgage, you could receive a cashback reward to help towards those essential purchases when setting up home – or anything else you’d like to spend it on (Terms and conditions apply).

* Opening a Save to Buy savings account doesn’t guarantee acceptance for a Save to Buy mortgage. You need to apply for a Save to Buy mortgage within six months and three years of opening a Save to Buy savings account. Nationwide mortgages are subject to underwriting and criteria.

Choosing the mortgage that could be right for you

When comparing mortgages, it’s easy to focus just on the interest rate and ignore the other details. Yet those details could have a big impact on how much you end up paying.

You’ll need to choose between fixed-rate mortgages that keep the same interest rate for the term of your deal, and tracker and variable rate mortgages where the interest rate can move up and down with the Bank of England base rate. With Nationwide’s tracker mortgages, you can choose an initial deal of two or three years, and with their fixed-rate mortgages you can fix the interest rate you’ll be paying for up to 10 years

Support and guidance

Buying your first home throws up lots of decisions. Dependable, impartial advice is hugely helpful when it comes to negotiating them all. Nationwide has commissioned a free, independent, first-time buyers guide, which takes you through all of the different stages involved in buying your first home. They’ve also created a free homebuyer companion mobile app, which means the answer to most of your questions is only a couple of clicks away. You can download the app for Android and iPhone here.

Nationwide have also made it easier to speak to one of their trained mortgage advisors whenever you need to, thanks to a new service called Nationwide Now. You can use a high-definition video link-up to talk to an advisor at a participating Nationwide branch, cutting down on waiting times and helping to get your mortgage plans moving.

Backing affordable housing schemes

Affordable housing schemes, such as Right to Buy and Help to Buy, can make it easier to take the first step on to the housing ladder. But they can only do this when there is a mortgage lender ready to lend under the scheme. Nationwide provides mortgages for several affordable housing schemes, helping council tenants to buy their homes, supporting Help to Buy schemes in England, Scotland and Wales, offering mortgages on shared ownership properties and providing additional support for members of the Armed Forces. You can find full details here.

Why it pays to find a supportive lender

A mortgage is a long-term financial commitment, which means that your mortgage provider could be a part of your life for a long time. The help they’re ready to give you at the start of your life as a homeowner could be a useful indication of how much support you could expect in the future. So be ready to look beyond whether they’re prepared to give you a mortgage – and the headline rate they offer you. Looking at everything a provider is ready to do for you won’t just save you money now; it could help make sure that this is a relationship you can rely on in the future.

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage

All Nationwide mortgages are available to those 18 and over, and subject to eligibility, underwriting and criteria. All mortgage offers may be withdrawn at any time without notice.

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